Kenmore 81214 200 Series Pet Friendly Lightweight Bagged Canister Vacuum with HEPA, 2 Motor System, and 3 Cleaning Tools-Orange by Kenmore

For years I owned various Dirt Devil and Shark vacuums. I had uprights and bagless models. But I started noticing that they were all failing after just a few years, which I really disliked because fixing them was very expensive or impossible (not to mention annoying).

The other thing I didn’t like with the bagless models was the POOF! of grossness that flew into my face and the air when I emptied the containers into the garbage. I did some research and found out that some allergists actually recommend against bagless vacuums because of this very reason. No surprise there.

I started searching online for bag vacuums and could hardly find any. The one I did find that was well-rated was this Kenmore. I remembered that my aunt has owned nearly the same model for 20+ years and loves it, so I decided to give it a shot even though I dislike canister vacuums. What I found particularly appealing was that the bags themselves provide HEPA filtration!

Here’s where things get disturbing: We had just vacuumed carpets in the house with our aging Shark vacuum a couple days before receiving the Kenmore. We decided to try the Kenmore anyway and were horrified by how much it picked up. It quickly became evident that our Shark vacuum had only been skimming the surface of our carpets. I’m not a germaphobe but I was seriously grossed out by how much filth we had been living in. No wonder we were having low-level sinus problems!

We vacuumed a couple more times that week and ended up needing to order replacement bags right away because the included bag was already full in days.

Having a canister is a little annoying, but who cares if it’s actually vacuuming properly? The one thing I regret with this purchase, though, is not having gone with the longer hose. Having an extra foot or two would be really nice for maneuverability. Once the hose gets old, I’ll definitely choose a longer one when we replace it.

As for the sturdiness and overall quality of the vacuum, wow. This thing is built to last. The hose is THICK. I haven’t seen such a high-quality hose since the 90s. I didn’t even think they existed anymore. And the head is just a beast, but in a good way. It’s made with metal to easily survive all the hits you’ll give it over the years. Yes, this makes the whole system a bit heavier, but the lighter vacuums fail so often. I’m tired of handing over money every few years and adding to landfills.

Long story short, this vacuum is worth its weight in gold and I wound definitely recommend it to anyone with pets (we have two cats) and/or chronic sinus issues. Going back to old-fashioned bags is the best thing we ever did, and you can’t beat Kenmore quality.

There are so many disappointing design choices in this model, that I was already gearing up to write a negative review.

Then it died. Total cumulative usage time was less than one hour. The friendly customer support rep agreed that the PowerMate head I’d received was defective. There don’t have any stock on hand. And, if they had, it would take 10-15 business days to receive it. The rep suggested that my best course of action would be to return it to Amazon.

I chose the Kenmore Elite 21814 Pet Friendly CrossOver to replace our 24 year-old Sears-Kenmore Progressive 20612 canister vacuum, which had served us well until a few weeks ago.

Pros:

* The new model is a little quieter.

* The suction control actually changes the speed of the motor.

* The customer support representative was friendly and honest about my options.

Cons:

* The canister is a little wider and taller, so it takes more space in the closet.

* The lump on the bottom to hold the canister on the stairs is a workaround for the fact that the canister isn’t well balanced. I used to just set the old canister on its tail a step or two below the one I was cleaning. It had rails to ensure that didn’t block the exhaust vent or pinch the power cord. The new one seems prone to toppling in that orientation.

* The hose comes straight up out of the canister, which puts more strain on the hose, effectively makes the cannister even taller, doesn’t swivel nearly as well (resulting in more frequent widing of the less-flexible hose). Our old model had a 360-degree swivel connection with an angle that made it much easer to tow the canister along and made better use of the length of the hose.

* The handle assembly is bulkier, which doesn’t matter (much) when using the wand, but it limits manueverability when using attachments.

* The attachments snap into the handle assembly instead of a friction fit over the nozzle beyond the assembly. So you can’t mount them in arbitrary orientations. You also can’t easily use the nozzle to clean the lint and pet fur stucks to the bristles of the attachments before putting them away. And it’s not compatible with the older attachments.

* The dusting attachment is smaller and has stiffer, more abbrasive bristles than the old ones.

* There is no longer a simple floor attachment. The “crossover” gimmick is the floor brush that fits into the PowerMate head. That brush is bulker. In the short time I was able to use the vacuum, I found places I normally use a floor brush, but the new one won’t fit. And it feels like it might be a bit rougher on the floor surface as well.

* There is no longer a simple fabric brush. I guess you’re expected to always use the Pet PowerMate. The Pet PowerMate, in conjunction with the bulkier handle assembly, won’t reach into sections between cusions as deeply or easily as the simple fabric brush would. I almost never used the old PowerMate Jr. (which was a bit larger and a lot heavier than the Pet PowerMate) because it wasn’t any better than a simple fabric brush. Heck, I even used the fabric brush for carpeted stairs.

* The fan blade duster is probably fine, but I don’t think it’s useful enough to justify the space it takes up in the attachments compartment.

* The crevice tool is substantially shorter, so there are places it cannot reach as effectively. And instead of residing in the attachment compartment, it clips onto the already-too-cumbersome handle assembly. And good luck putting it back there without checking the illustration in the users manual the first several times.

* I’m not a fan of the swivel mechanism where the wand attaches to the combo floor brush and the PowerMate head. The worst problem is that it severely restricts how far down you can bring the wand (as does the handle). The old model allowed lowering the wand until it was all-but-parallel with the floor, allowing you extended reach under beds, sofas, dressers, etc.

* The swivel mechanism makes it hard to vacuum in straight lines when you want to.

* The pile height adjustment pedal took a lot of force, and it often wouldn’t advance the mechanism quite enough for it to snap into the next level.

* The little rollers on the back don’t seem as effective as the corner-mounted wheels on the old PowerMate heads.

* On forward strokes, the PowerMate head is very hard to push, as if the front of the head wants to nosedive into the carpet. On the back strokes, it’s much easier to pull but it doesn’t pick up well. This was especially true on area rugs, even with the suction at the lowest level and the pile height adjustment set to high.

* Comparing the underside of the new and old PowerMate heads, there’s no obvious difference between the edge-cleaning abilities. In practice, however, the edge cleaning with the new model seems ineffective within 1/2 to 3/4″ of the baseboard.

* The dirt sensor seems to have some lag. When vacuuming up crumbs or sand, you can here ticking noises as the bits hit the sides of the metal tube. But that feedback is almost entirely out of sync with the dirt sensor light. After going over sections of carpet several times from multiple angles, the dirt sensor will often indicate each time you change directions (e.g., push-to-pull). Either it was wrong, or the vacuum didn’t do a good job on the first six-to-eight passes.

Neutrals:

* The telescoping wand is fine, but the old wands were the right height for me. I suppose if you were taller or shorter, you might appreciate the flexibility.

* Putting a light on the wand makes some sense, because you can, in theory, use it with attachments other than the PowerMate head. But it’s not great angle for seeing what’s ahead of the attachment. And should I have to use “carpet mode”?

* The prefilters are identical to the 25-year-old ones, so they are readily available and inexpensive. The exhaust filters are larger.

You cannot beat Kenmore canister vacuums for longevity. My 30-year-old Kenmore vacuum is still going strong. I bought this vacuum so that I do not have to carry vacuums between floors at my home; now there is one on each level. I like ALMOST everything about this new vacuum. My key points:
PROS: Excellent suction; simple design with less electronic gadgets to break; excellent quality hose; can use either HEPA dust bags or regular dust bags (much less expensive); very light and maneuverable.
CONS: Short hose length (6ft long; old Kenmore hose is 8ft long); all attachments are cheaply made (shame on you Kenmore!); comes with a regular dust bag installed and NOT a HEPA dust bag as you would expect based on the advertising (not a deal breaker for me).
SUMMARY: Despite a couple shortcomings, I highly recommend this vacuum; great value for the money!

Works good good suction for pet hair